Hello. A few days ago, I found a litter of five abandoned kittens. They have been determined to be between four- and five-weeks old. There are three females and two males, and they are all very social. They are eating and drinking well, and we are currently in the process of weening them from formula and kitten pate to moistened kitten kibble.

Unfortunately, on Sunday afternoon, one of the female kittens (who is named Princess Butterscotch) started to show signs of Coccidiosis. Being in the country like I am, I am very familiar with the signs of the parasite. I rushed her to the emergency vet on Sunday evening, where she was diagnosed with Coccidiosis. She was put on a starter dose of both Panacur and Albon for all parasites. I was also given enough treatment to treat the other four kittens at home, because common sense dictated that they were also infected, even if not showing signs. The four whom were healthy before are still doing well. They all get .25ML of both the Panacur and Albon every evening. The last dose of Panacur will be this evening, whereas the Albon was given in an eight-day dosage.

Princess Butterscotch still has diarrhea. It is to the point where she was “poopy butt” (as we so elegantly call it), and she does not always know she is going to the bathroom. She is still eating, drinking, playing, purring, and doing all things that kittens do; however, I am distraught, because as I said, I have seen Coccidiosis in kittens before and know how quickly it can take a turn for the worst.

In all my experiences and my family’s experiences, Albon DOES NOT WORK on Coccidiosis. And even if it temporarily stops the symptoms of Coccidiosis, they reappear within 24 hours of the last dose of Albon. However, it was all the emergency vet carried. I called my regular vet this afternoon for an appointment and to discuss Ponazuril as a possible treatment, as it is the only medication we have ever found to definitely treat a kitten with Coccidia. My vet could not see me due to having no appointments. I called another vet in the area, and they also cannot see me due to having no appointments. The emergency vet I took Princess Butterscotch to on Sunday evening is not open today.

My fear is that I am going to lose this kitten. I know Albon generally takes one to two days in order to really start showing signs of improvement; however, it seems she’s getting worse and not better. I am wiping up all of her little spots on the bathroom floor with bleach cleaner, and I am making sure their litter box stays clean. However, this will all be for naught if she does not make it. I am currently treating her with some Pedialyte in order to ensure she stays hydrated until someone can see her and possibly provide her and her littermates with more effective treatments against Coccidiosis.

Any advice in the meantime would be greatly appreciated. I have not had this litter of kittens long, but it is difficult not to get attached to such wonderful, loving creatures, and I would hate to lose one because I did not do all that I could to save her life.

Because I know this will be brought forth in mind, none of the kittens are showing ANY signs of Fading Kitten Syndrome. They are all very loving, active, and social. All of them, save for Princess Buttercup, are using the litter box regularly, and they are all eating very well.

Thank you for any and all advice,
One very worried pseudo-foster mother

Please could you give me some advise. I got my dog (1year old) castration due to cryptorchidism. Day1 – After the surgery he was very bruised. Day2 – He was happy, eating, drinking but very sore. Day3- Abdomen started to swell. Day4- Abdomen was very swollen, bruised and slight clear weeping from incision. Visited the vet who said it was fine. Day5- Extreme swelling (see pic) so I took him to the vet again who give more pain/inflammation meds. Day6 -Swelling has ruptured leaving a whole in his abdomen (see pic) Visited the vet again who give 6 day supply off antibiotics and advised to clean twice daily. The vet didn’t clean the wound and advised it didn’t need stitched closed. Day7 – My dogs eaten and drank but has spent most of the day sleeping. I’m so worried that he has a large whole in his abdomen, how’s it ever going to close! Also why would this happen! Thanks for taking the time to read.

4-5 month old puppy recently adopted. She started peeing quite a lot and within 12 hours there was blood in it. It was Saturday and my vet was closed. I was able to get her into a vet I use to go to previously. They said a lot of white blood cells so could not even tell what bacteria. Would let it grow over weekend. The bill was 269.00 visit, antibiotic injection , urine sample, growth plate .. today they called saying lots of bacteria grew but need to send out for another 260.00$ .. is that normal, the going rate?? I said I could not afford so they said to keep on meds clindamycin which cost 62.00 and see what happens. Just wondering because that seems really high to send urine out.

HELP!!
I have a 3yo female Pom, Nomi, who is bullying our newly adopted female puppy, Ali.
Backstory: We had a senior Beagle (who recently passed away) and our current 3yo Pom. They got along very well tho the beagle was not in to playing with toys, he would play “wrestle” with Nomi. Nomi never had any aggression toward him (other than don’t go after my food) but she did like to boss him around….stay out of the garbage, don’t lick the dishes when the dishwasher is open sort of stuff. As said, our Beagle recently passed and we just (like yesterday) adopted a puppy, wanting to give Nomi another companion. Nomi is bullying the new pup; will not allow her to play with the toys…(.and we did buy new toys as we knew not to just give Nomi’s toys up for grabs)….will not allow her play freely, nips at pup if she makes sudden movements around her. Normally, Nomi is a very social dog with humans but has never been around dogs other than her beagle brother who was already here when Nomi came to us at 12 weeks old.

I need to know how to calm Nomi down and teach her it is ok for the new pup to play both with toys and in general. I need to know how to effectively “discipline” Nomi when she is mean to the pup without using tactics such as striking her or yelling. I have been giving her lots of praise in the moments when she doesn’t nip or growl at the pup, even treats. We’ve been very cautious to make sure we show Nomi affection right along with the new girl and we do not leave them alone together, and do not feed them together.

ANY help/advice would be so welcome as we want these two girls to get along and be pals for their sake and ours!

Four years ago this week, my dog Connor was released from a Baltimore-area veterinary orthopedic and sports medicine hospital after THREE failed TLPO surgeries and multiple significant infections, which created the beginning of Connor’s end. The reminders of this are coming up daily in my Facebook “Memories” feed, which is why I’m currently wrestling with taking action four years after the fact. Connor completely tore his CCL and the ortho surgeon sold me–HARD–on TPLO for him. This same practice and surgeon had successfully repaired a torn CCL for another of my dogs, Tessa, when she was five and a half years old. Connor was 13, and the surgeon was all but guaranteeing success, citing examples of 12-year-old Great Dane patients who regained great quality of life and movement. Connor fell off a ramp getting out of our car and three of the six screws broke after the first TPLO surgery. The surgeon did a second TPLO surgery, after which Connor went NOWHERE and did NOTHING, and the screws failed again. Plus, the second time, he developed an infection so bad I mistook the stench for a sewer problem I was having in my house. When the vet intern cut off his splint and dressing, what was inside was bright green and smelled horrendous. I’d been mistaking Connor’s crying and balking as stubborness, not recognizing he was in PAIN. The staff whisked Connor away to the back and kept him for more than a week. MONTHS later, one of the vet techs told me they weren’t sure he was going to make it that first weekend (our appointment was Saturday; while they were typically closed on Sunday, they had this staffer with him around-the-clock, doing regular debriding they didn’t tell me about). The third surgery involved an external fixator I was cleaning multiple times a day. When they found out I was doing this, I was yelled at and told to only clean it once a day. I followed the directions–and another significant infection developed. There were multiple instances of their applying splints in ways that hurt my dog, and I ultimately had to move him to another veterinary ortho practice because the surgeon who performed the surgery, the vet who owned the practice and finally the office manager (who had been the final person who would even respond to my calls and letters) stopped responding. Second and third opinions were that Connor developed a bone infection so severe he might not recover–because a fragment of screw had been left behind from one of the first two surgeries. He ruptured a disk in his back trying to manage the awkward splints the first ortho vet used. The second ortho vet did an MRI–discovering the TWO ruptured disks (one was several years old and had been misdiagnosed by the original vet ortho and sports medicine practice as a “congenital defect”). I went ahead with the spine surgery–within three hours in recovery, Connor pushed the baby-gated pen he was in around a corner. The second surgeon was amazed, and said to me, “Younger dogs who recover perfectly well from this surgery can’t even stand at this point–Connor is rearranging the furniture. I can’t imagine how much better he must feel right now to be doing that.” But the leg wasn’t healing due to the infection, and I finally conceded that, despite my best intentions to give him back his mobility and his life, the decision for TPLO actually made his last year of life miserable and then forced me to put him down. (And I can’t even tell you about the in-home “euthanasia” service–it was so horrible I still weep thinking about what happened there, more than three years later.) With this brief (really!) background, would it be unreasonable of me to file a complaint with the state veterinary licensing board? It’s only now that I realize THEY made mistake after mistake, didn’t fully advise me of the situation and options, and caused me to put my dog through pain and misery that wasn’t going to help him improve. I’ve been really fired up about this complaint this week, but then I read your blog about euthanasia and how clients can be unreasonably cruel, and I need to know if you think there would be anything gained from the practice having to answer for their decisions (which include blaming me and refusing to talk to me or treat my dog until I fully paid them ongoing bills that were supposed to have been covered under the “guarantee” they provided in writing.) I really appreciate your taking the time to read this long post and offer your advice.

my 7 year old dog, we aren’t sure of breed, but we think a lab/beagle mix of some sort experienced extreme pain and loss of the use of his back legs 2 days ago. I immediately took him to the emergency vet. They told us med management and cage rest. They brought him to the car with the use of a sling for his hind legs stating he still had some movement of his hind limbs intact. 2 hours later I believed he had declined and had no use. I called back to the vet who made me feel guilty for asking for further evaluation stating she would not put a dog through an MRI and surgery that still exhibited neurological function. He cried all night long and every time I moved him to potty was in excruciating pain. he wouldn’t eat and no longer could void. I took him back to the vet the next morning where he received an MRI and underwent surgery for a ruptured disc. at that point he no longer had deep pain sensation. My question is did that delay diminish his chances of recovery? and what are the odds now? I’m just heartbroken for him and do not want him to suffer. I am a nurse practitioner and very willing to provide the care he needs however I don’t want him to be in long term pain or have a poor quality of life.

My sweet little Josephine is 2 1/2 years old and has herniated discs in her back and also has severe heart failure in the right side of her heart. I have to make the heartbreaking decision of whether or not to take the chance on anesthesia to repair the disc herniation since a week of sedation and pain medication has not produced any improvement on her motor skills (she can’t stand and poop or pee and her appetite is waning) and risk complete heart failure, or take her home and try other alternatives to back surgery. The doctors tell me that the results of the EKG tell me that I only have about 2 more years with my little girl given the condition of her heart. Do I do the back surgery? Are there successful alternatives?

My son (lives in florida) sent me a picture of a lump on his dogs lip. His vet told him it was a wart. I wanted to see if that is true. He’s concerned and wanted to make sure she is ok. She is a 2 year old Samoyed.

What are the best and safest dental chews for cleaning a dogs teeth and bad breath?

I have a question about our 13 yo dog who likely has a bulging disc. He is a mutt (probably part Border Collie, part Shepherd). Soon after a small slip on our stairs, he had lameness in his one back leg; this went away after one day, he limped for a few days after, and he quickly recovered from those things.  Though he was walking fine fairly quickly, he showed stiffness, showed hesitation going up stairs unless we gave him a treat (we have only stairs to the outside), and his tail was down and only wagged from the tip of it. We had him quickly on an anti-inflammatory (Novox) and a pain med (started on Gabapentin but had to discontinue). He was fine on a walk; we went on short walks and he always craved for much more than we allowed. We prevented jumping, aerobic exercise, stopped him from using stairs by having a ramp to the outside, etc. We continued the Novox. His symptoms continued, then got better, and then seemed to regress when he started showing signs of pain (panting even when lying down and even when it was cool outside and some anxiety); the pain thing was probably because of taking him off Gabapentin. We took him to the Neurology Dept at a local, large vet hospital and a physical exam indicated that he “likely” has a bulging disc. When they inspected his back, he showed signs of pain and anxiety and his back legs bent and his rear went down. We don’t think we want to do surgery due to his age. He has not had an MRI as the regular vet and my husband and I thought that the treatment would be the same if we did not do surgery — treatment being restricting movement, continuing anti-inflammatory and pain meds, and looking into possible physical rehab. A switch to the pain med Amantidine helps a lot and the panting and anxiety are gone. He now continues to crave longer walks and, at the rare times we forget to block off the couch, he will try to jump up on it. We have been continuing to restricting movement but we just don’t know what to do about activity restrictions and have not had a lot of advice from neurology. He has always craved movement and exercise and when we take him around the block his stiffness seems to go away a bit and he seems energized and maybe even more comfortable. He has always craved a lot of exercise and movement. His spirits are lowered a lot if we keep in him in a small space — it almost seems like he wants to move around. He is eating and drinking, can do #2 (though he struggles some if doing it a long time). If allowed to do some movement, he is mostly happy and getting around with walking. Questions are: Should we restrict his movement altogether despite all this? Should he we do no walks at all? Is it bad if he is free to walk around the first floor or should he stay only in a very small area? I feel we are so confused as to what to do and how to know how to prevent regression. We’d love the input of any veterinarians or other owners with the same experience!